Reading: The Choice by Edith Eger

I’m reading The Choice by Edith Eger and found it incredibly inspiring. I’ve already bought it as a gift.

It’s the story of Eger’s incarceration in Auschwitz during World War Two, her survival, her career as a clinical psychologist, and her coming to terms with her own past while helping other people. It’s intelligent, well-written, engaging, and feels authentic.

It’s a demanding read: it examines victimhood in a way that is sympathetic to the survivors, but still challenges them to move on, to choose how to process pain, grief or loss. It’s a book with nuance and humanity that asks for empathy and humility. Of course, it’s painful to read about the atrocities committed in the war, the unthinkable yet real hurt inflicted on so very many families – but also, I’ve rarely read anything that has made me examine my own past and my perceptions and life choices more intricately. I imagine it will for some time to come.